In these polarized times, we don’t know if seven out of 10 dentists could agree on which toothpaste to recommend. But you know where you can find that kind of consensus? CFOs, if you ask them about their top priorities for 2024.

Gartner did ask, and more than 70% of the 185 CFOs who responded agreed on five critical priorities—all of them strategic, according to the newly released survey results. Moreover, traditional finance and accounting tasks like monthly close, financial reporting, or cash management didn’t even make the list.

With the potential of generative AI dominating headlines, it’s no surprise that executives would be thinking about its promise for their organizations. But the CFOs were rating their top priorities, which underscores their central role “in evaluating and aligning investment in these transformative technologies, both in finance and across the enterprise,” Marko Horvat, Gartner Finance’s VP of research, said in a press release accompanying the study.

When asked to choose among 33 potential priorities, 79% of the CFOs Gartner surveyed agreed that leading digital transformation effortswas a top priority, followed by 78% who chose improving the finance function’s strategy and design. Improving finance metrics, insights, and storytelling (76%) and leading change management efforts (74%). Optimizing costs (72%) rounded out the top five.

For more about what CFOs are saying about their strategic priorities, click here.—GD

Gather ’round, number crunchers. We’ve got a scroll-stopping stat for you: According to IMA’s 2023 Global Salary Survey, CMAs in the US earn 24% more than those without a CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) certification.

That’s right. Snagging this coveted certification will take your career up a notch.

So what exactly is the CMA? It shows employers you’ve stepped up and mastered the 12 most critical practice areas in accounting and finance.

Get started by downloading IMA’s Global Salary Survey to better understand how earning a CMA might impact your career. See all the details on salaries, total compensation, the value of a certification, job satisfaction levels—you name it.

Learn more.

You asked, we delivered. Well, you didn’t ask, and someone else actually delivered, but we had a feeling you were eager for more updates about the state of M&A activity in 2024.

That’s exactly what we get from Deloitte’s annual M&A trends survey, now in its 10th year. The verdict this time around: A rebound looks likely, and we have an unimpressive 2023 to thank for that.

“Last year was…a down year for M&A, both from volume and value perspectives,” Barry Winer, Deloitte’s head of research for mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring services, told CFO Brew. “It was one of the softest years really in quite some time, more than 10 years. Coming into the survey’s scoping efforts, last fall, we were keen to get a sense for where the winds were blowing.”

In general, there’s a sense of optimism in the air, but that doesn’t mean uncertainty and risk have gone away—or even diminished. The key difference is that M&A leaders are more comfortable proceeding in spite of it, Adam Reilly, national managing partner for Deloitte’s mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring services, told CFO Brew.

Click here for more on what M&A might look like this year.—NP

Looks like the streaming wars have crowned a victor—at least for now.

In its latest earnings report, Netflix said it added 13.1 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter, a significantly bigger jump than the ~8.8 million Wall Street had forecast. It marked the streaming giant’s most significant leap in growth since the start of the pandemic (and heaven knows we were streaming 24/7 back then).

Netflix ended 2023 with 260.8 million subscribers globally. For now, it looks like the company’s efforts to boost subscribers—hello, password crackdown—have continued to pay off.

Netflix seemed ready for its victory lap, and made it clear that continued efforts to build subscribers were underway. On the same day it reported earnings, the company announced it had acquired exclusive rights to stream WWE Raw live starting next year, in a deal worth more than $5 billion.

For more on Netflix earnings, click here.—NP

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: $24.5 billion. That’s how much retailers expect to see in “fraudulent returns” from last holiday season. Customers are using shady tactics like returning different items than the ones they actually bought, driving up the cost of returns. (CNBC)

Quote: “They are definitely getting a divorce.”—Jamie Court, president of advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, on Exxon Mobil and Chevron’s expected writedown of assets in California. The state has pivoted hard towards clean energy and now has six times as many green energy jobs as oil jobs. (Reuters)

Read: Customers will spend more for an item in minimalistic packaging than one in busy packaging, a study finds. They tend to associate simple packaging with having fewer ingredients. (the Wall Street Journal)

Boost your numbers: According to IMA’s 2023 Global Salary Survey, CMAs in the US earn 24% more than those without a CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) certification. Hurry and get started.*

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